


write my name on your skin

by gardevoirite



Series: write your name on my skin [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Future Fic, M/M, Post-Canon, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 06:18:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8879245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardevoirite/pseuds/gardevoirite
Summary: A soulmate AU where soulmarks appear one letter at a time, and when Yuri wakes up on his birthday and sees the letter O on his arm, he tries not to wish that it continues into Otabek Altin.





	1. carve it carefully

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [оставь моё имя на своей коже](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12673824) by [Born_With_Magic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Born_With_Magic/pseuds/Born_With_Magic)



> i fell for this ship the moment i saw yuri blushign and i feLL HARD FUCK??? FUC KWHATE THE FUKC
> 
> also this was inspired by this one phanfic https://archiveofourown.org/works/3381698 if ur a phan go give that a clickedy doo

Yuri has been friends with Otabek Altin for a little over two years now, and he’s pleased to realize that they haven’t lost any contact with each other since that day in Barcelona. He isn’t used to being friends with anyone before; he’s not used to _needing_ anyone in his life before. Not in the way he feels he needs Otabek, anyway.

It started off casual - with he insisting that Otabek would get a messenger app so that they’d be able to talk more often, and then exchanging a few messages that were hours apart throughout the day (after all, a three-hour time difference was barely anything). Then they became more frequent, with the occasional voice or video call mixed in, and Yuri can feel himself growing more and more attached, no matter how much he doesn’t want to.

He’s just turned eighteen and he’s pretty sure the feeling in his chest is not supposed to happen. And he’s just as sure that he shouldn’t have his hopes up this high when he wakes up on his birthday and finds the letter _O_ , in small handwriting, right on his inner elbow.

It’s probably ridiculous, like how some girls get a _В_ on their eighteenth birthday and how they would wish it would continue to ‘Виктор Никифоров _‘ -_ Viktor Nikiforov, even though the press has already seen Katsudon bearing that same mark on the nape of his neck. 

Apparently the pig never looked at the soulmark after he received his first letter, and he feels really, really tempted to do the same thing now.

Otabek is already twenty years old, and Yuri’s sure he already has his soulmate’s first name complete, and maybe even the first few letters of their last name if they’ve already met. And he knows Otabek would never keep something like that hidden, so he would have said something by now, right?

Then it dawns on him that they’re going to meet up again soon, because after years of meticulous planning Viktor and Katsudon are finally going to get married. And they invited every single skater from the 2016 Grand Prix season to come to Japan and celebrate their union. 

This alone is why he’s trying not to get his hopes up - but he doen’t even know _why_ he was hoping so much. They’re friends. Best friends, he supposes. And maybe that feeling in his chest is some form of… platonic love, or something. (Or maybe, he could hear another part of him saying, he was just in denial. He’s really trying to kick that part of him down.)

He doesn’t bring it up to Otabek, and he doesn’t bring it up to anyone. He keeps his mouth shut, cover up the singular letter with his hoodie, finishes packing his suitcase and boards a flight to Kyushu, Japan.

 

* * *

* * *

 

Two weeks later and three weeks before the wedding, the second letter of his soulmate’s name appears. Now ‘От’ was carefully written on his inner elbow, and he can’t help thinking that’s nearly half of Otabek’s first name.

His mistake is getting out of his room to get breakfast without putting on his hoodie or covering up the mark with makeup beforehand. He’s barely gotten his first bite of omelette rice when he suddenly hears a gasp and feels his hand being tugged, dropping the spoonful of food in the process.

“Oi, what’s your problem-?!”

“Yurio, you didn’t tell us you already have your soulmark! And two letters, too!”

Fuck. _Fuck._ He pulls his hand away from Mari’s grasp, covering up the the soulmark with his other hand. He’s about to let out a biting retort when another voice interrupts him.

“Really, Yurio? Oh, right! Your birthday was two weeks ago! But two letters in two weeks is awfully fast…” 

“I didn’t ask for your opinion, Katsudon. And stop calling me that!” he sends his most piercing glare towards him, and the idiot just sighs and rubs the nape of his neck, where he knows Viktor’s name is scrawled on.

Ugh, gross. But he doesn’t even have enough time to be disgusted by them before his hand is pulled on again, this time by Viktor himself.

“Amazing, Yurio! Hmm, let’s see what those letters are…” at this, Yuri yanks his hand again, but Viktor’s grip is stronger than Mari’s and while he did manage to get him to let go, he’s pretty sure Viktor’s already seen the letters in their struggle.

He seems to have the same train of thought as Yuri, because he has this shit-eating grin on his face that’s getting on every single one of his nerves. “My, Yurio, your soulmate couldn’t be -”

“Ugh, shut _up_ , old man! Just because you and piggy think you’re the most perfect couple here doesn’t mean you have any right to pry on anyone else’s!” and before he knows it, before he can see anyone’s reaction, he’s standing up and storming back into his room.

He knows how doting the Katsuki family is, even to him, and as annoying as they are, he still doesn’t like the thought of worrying them. He just wants the stupid mark covered up so that no one will bring it up again. Because if someone brings it up again, he’ll start thinking about what those two letters mean, which would lead to thinking about whether or not Otabek is his soulmate. And he’s been doing a pretty good job of avoiding that topic.

He’d really, really rather keep avoiding it.

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, as he always did, he grabs the nearest hoodie he sees and puts it on. When he comes back to the table, they must have figured out that he doesn’t want to talk about his mark, because he receives an apology from Yuuri, Viktor and Mari (he accepts it, begrudgingly) and they instead switch the topic to Viktor and Yuuri’s approaching wedding.

Which, to be honest, is where nearly all conversations with the Katsuki family end up in since he got here, but he’d rather tolerate the thought of those two dumb lovebirds than have to think about his own feelings.

Occasionally, though, he’d see Yuuri’s eyes drifting to his arm, now covered in black cloth, and he knows that he can’t avoid it forever. 

 

* * *

* * *

 

“I don’t get why _you’re_ the one helping me with my best man speech,” he spits out, crumpling another piece of paper and throwing it behind him. Honestly, the used papers are slowly growing into a pile behind him, but it’s not his room so he can’t bring himself to care. “You have your own dumb groom-ly duties to take care of, and I’m not even _your_ best man, I’m Viktor’s, so what shit are you trying to pull?”

Yuuri, as usual, barely flinches at his words, and it infuriates him to no end. Worse, he doesn’t even answer his question. Instead he asks, “Yurio, why are you being so defensive with your soulmark?”

Yuri accidentally punctures his new piece of paper with his pen, but he hasn’t written anything dumb on it so he doesn’t crumple it up just yet.”What’s it to you, fatso?”

“Nothing, nothing,” he raises his hands up in defense, and Yuri rolls his eyes. “It’s just pretty obvious that you’re being kinda protective over it. You always snap whenever someone brings it up, and you always cover it up somehow. I’m just… curious.”

“Tch.” He messes up on his speech too badly again and another paper ball joins the pile. “Like I’d tell you.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

_“No.”_

“Yuri,” Yuuri sighed, “I’m just trying to help. You know, Viktor and I -”

“I _know,”_ Yuri hissed back at him. “You told me. _He_ told me. Over and over. About how you never looked at your soulmark because you didn’t want to get your hopes up, and how Viktor never said anything because he thought you already knew, blah blah blah, now you’re getting married and I have to write this stupid speech.”

“That’s not what I was going to say,” Yuuri said, but the nervous laughter that came afterwards was a dead giveaway. “Well, not really anyway. It’s just… avoiding something isn’t gonna make it go away, y’know? Even if I didn’t look at my mark -”

“Oh _god,_ here we go.”

“- it was still there, waiting to be seen. And your mark, your soulmate, is waiting for you too.” Yuuri smiles at him, and the way he does it, like he’s smiling at a child, infuriates him more. “Besides, from what I’ve learned, avoiding doesn’t do you any good anyway.”

“Tch.” His speech is turning out a little better, and if Yuuri doesn’t say anything stupid again maybe he’ll actually have a good first draft written down. “Just tell your family and your stupid fiance that prying is a shitty thing to do. I’ll stop avoiding or whatever.”

“Alright,” Yuuri’s smiles are too friendly. It annoys him that it comforts him in some way. “You still haven’t answered me, though. What’s so wrong about your soulmark? Do you think it’s gonna turn out to be someone you don’t like?”

He’s not prying, or if he is, he’s not being annoyingly pushy about it. Katsudon is annoying and weak, but he’s approachable and, after nearly three years of knowing him, he knows he can trust him. And keeping this secret wrapped up is getting exhausting for him. So he drops his pen and rolls up the right sleeve of his hoodie, revealing his incomplete soulmark.

“Ah, Yurio, you already have your third letter! Mari said it was two last week,” Yuuri commented as he grasped Yuri’s wrist, which made hm look back at his inner elbow in surprise. He doesn’t remember a third letter.

It’s an _a._ ‘Ота’ is now written cleanly on his skin and oh god, it really is him, isn’t it? _Fuck.  
_

He can tell Yuuri figured it out too, but confusion remains on his face. “It’s… starting to look like ‘Otabek’, isn’t it?” he drops Yuri’s hand, and he immediately picks up his pen to continue his speech. He doesn’t want to focus on this conversation too much. “Hmm, what’s the problem, then? You and Otabek are best friends, and I’ve seen the way you look at him sometimes -”

_“What?!”_

“- so I still don’t get what the problem is.” 

Despite his initial outburst, he tries to sound as casual as he can, but it comes out as a mumble. “I dunno, I just… didn’t wanna start assuming things, when it was just the _O._ What if I bring it up to him by accident and it turns out we’re not soulmates and it makes things all awkward and _ugh?”  
_

He’s not good with words. Never was. But Yuuri was listening patiently, so he continued. “I didn’t stop looking it like _you_ did, that’s dumb, but I just… didn’t want it to stay in my mind for too long. If I keep thinking about it I’ll start hoping that it’s actually him, and then it won’t be him and then it’ll suck.”

He isn’t as mortified as he thought he would be when Yuuri starts _laughing_ at him, but he’s still angry that he is so he takes a couple of the paper balls from the pile and throws it at him. “Don’t laugh, you fucking pig! Is this your shitty way of trying to help me?!”

“No no no,” Yuuri manages to say, his laughter gradually calming down. “I’m not laughing at you, it’s just - you reminded me a lot of how I used to think with Viktor, that’s all.”

“Ugh, it always comes back to you and Viktor,” he grumbles, and Yuuri laughs again and apologizes. “Whatever. Is this the part where I beg you to tell me how you got through with it? ‘Cause I’m not doing it.”

“Well, no, but it looks like you need the help anyway,” Yuri sends him a death glare at that, because _he doesn’t need any help at all,_ but Yuuri ignores it and continues. “But listen, your soulmark is completing itself at a really quick pace. I won’t be surprised if you complete the first name by the time the wedding rolls around. And if it does end up being Otabek, then you’ll just have to see if your name is his soulmark. If it isn’t… well, it’ll hurt, but you two are practically sewn together anyways. Even if you guys aren’t soulmates, that doesn’t mean you can’t still be together as best friends, right?”

Annoying as he is, he has a point. Approaching someone about this didn’t suck as hard as he thought it would. 

“… Yeah, I guess you’re right, just this once,” he admits, and Yuuri smiles at him and he gives him a half-smile back.

…

“I want him to be my soulmate, though,” he mumbles, and Yuuri pretends not to hear for his sake.


	2. claim me as your own

Being one of the best men, it turns out, is an irritating job. Mostly because of all the work to be done. The burden isn’t too bad since it’s been split between him and Phichit, Yuuri’s best man, but between the speeches, the legal papers to be signed, and the things he has to do on the wedding itself... it’s getting stressful, but he tries to be considerate and thinks of how hard it must be for the actual couple.

But aside from his role’s duties, after their talk it seems Yuuri is hellbent on keeping him even busier. Viktor thinks that with the wedding approaching at such an alarming pace, they need as much help as they can get, but Yuuri’s motives are transparent. He’s trying to keep Yuri’s mind away from his soulmark. 

* * *

 

He’d never, _ever_ admit it to anyone, but he’s glad that out of anyone, he approached Yuuri about his concerns. He is, of course, still nothing but a talentless piggy - one that Yuri _will_ defeat before he retires, he swears on this - but at least he understood. He was in his situation before, after all.

But try as Yuuri might, it doesn’t go away from his mind completely. He still checks his soulmark everyday to see if new letters are added, and Katsudon was right - they were appearing faster than most people did. In the span of two more weeks, two more letters are added - a _б_ and an _е.  
_

He still remembers getting the _e._ Remembers bursting into Yuuri’s room in the middle of the night, trying not to scream as he pointed out that the name on his inner elbow clearly spells ‘Отабе’. How he only has the _к_ missing and he doesn’t know anyone _else_ whose first name starts with ‘Отабе’ and _how is he going to face Otabek?_

It took Yuuri a solid half-hour to calm him down, saying _it won’t be that bad, I promise_ and _if you two aren’t soulmates then that’s fine too_ and _Yurio can we please deal with this in the morning?_ And eventually he did go back to his room with a semi clear head, but he still barely got any sleep.

Avoiding the subject with a large workload isn’t going to keep working, and eventually he will have to face the problem head-on. He wishes the wedding preparation would go on forever.

But there’s only four more days until the wedding, and he remembers clearly what happens on that day - every guest to the ceremony arrives at Yu-topia Katsuki, to have some time to relax before the wedding and have ample time to prepare.

He and Phichit end up being in charge of keeping track of the incoming guests. He takes a quick look at the list; Guang-Hong, Leo, Christophe, JJ (he nearly gagged at the sight of this shithead’s name), even Mila and Sara, every single skater of the 2016 season... and, of course, Otabek Altin.

Oh god. Otabek Altin.

Yuri wonders if he can pretend to call in sick.

* * *

 

 

* * *

 

VIktor and Yuuri, of course, don’t let him go that easily, and he’s waiting at the airport and ends up wondering if he’s still a soldier in Otabek’s eyes if his hands are shaking this badly.

But he feels all of his worries melt away, at least temporarily, when he sees Otabek and how his eyes soften at the sight of him, how the corners of his lips turn just the slightest bit upwards. He can’t help grinning at the sight of him and suddenly he’s running towards him, flinging his arms around him as soon as they meet. 

He realizes, belatedly, that he’s still going through his growth spurt, so Otabek does stumble upon receiving his weight, but he feels his arms wrap around him and figures out he doesn’t really mind.

“You’ve grown taller,” Otabek says, when he finally lets go. He still has that soft smile on his face, and damn it, there’s that tight feeling on his chest again. “We’re the same height now. You might outgrow me at this rate.”

He snorted, but Otabek was right. They were definitely the same height now. And honestly, the thought of being taller than someone after so long made him happy, even if the lack of flexibility is starting to hinder him. “Hah, you still got time. Maybe you’ll grow another half inch if you really try, old man.”

They end up in another tea shop, as they always did when they were together. And although it’s feels a bit awkward on his end because of his newly-found feelings for Otabek, they do still have a good time. He listens to Otabek’s stories about his return to Almaty, and Otabek listens to him rant about Viktor and Yuuri’s lovey dovey shit, and he feels his tension from the past few weeks melt away.

(He ends up thinking that even if Otabek doesn’t turn out to be his soulmate, he’ll still choose him over any person tattooed on his skin, if he would give him a chance. It’s such a mushy, _Yuuri_ -like thought that he wants to kick himself, but he can’t deny it either.)

It’s cut short because the flights where the other guests are arriving and he has to attend to them at Viktor and Yuuri’s insistence, but at least Otabek offers to accompany him and the work becomes more tolerable. The world is more tolerable when he’s around.

Despite everything he has to do, hey have a good time, and when they finally arrive at Yu-topia and they have to separate to enter their own rooms, Yuri gives him a small smile and he smiles back and he can practically hear Viktor’s teasing voice. ~~  
~~

(That small part of his mind is reminding him that he still has to confront him about the soulmate situation, but he doesn’t listen to it because frankly, this is the best day he’s had since arriving in Hasetsu and he doesn’t want to ruin it by starting the ‘soulmate talk.’ He’ll get it done. Really.)

* * *

 

 

* * *

 

When he wakes up early on the wedding day, his first thought is about Viktor and Yuuri. They’re an embarrassing couple, but he’s known them for three years and doing all of his duties as best man is the least he can do for them.

His second thought is his soulmark, and he rolls up the sleeve of his shirt to see if he has any new letters. 

Of course the _к_ appears right on the day of the wedding, the day he decided he’ll confront Otabek about everything. ‘Отабек’ is written cleanly on his inner elbow and he prays that it really is him, that it isn’t just someone who happens to have the same name and fate chose to do this to torment him.

He tries his best to remove the thought from his mind, if only temporarily, because he had more important things to think about and he doesn’t want to let anyone down. He covers it up with a hoodie, as usual (he’s not putting on the stupid suit until the actual ceremony. Fuck that.) and goes out to help Viktor on his big day.

The wedding, of course, is a grand affair - no one expected anything less when Viktor Nikiforov is one of the grooms. They decided to hold it in April specifically so that they can stand in falling cherry blossoms throughout the event. Axel, Lutz and Loop act as flower girls while Makkachin runs to the aisle with the rings attached to his collar. He stands beside Viktor the whole time, and even he can feel just how happy he is.

He can’t help the small smile that tugs on his lips when he sees Viktor’s sleeve shift as he puts the ring on Yuuri’s finger and he catches a glimpse of his own soulmark on his wrist. _勝生 勇利 - Katsuki Yuuri._ They really are meant to be together, and it shows. He’s happy for them.

Deep down he knows they want him to be happy too. He just has to take the first step.

* * *

 

 

* * *

 

“Hey,” he hears someone say, and he knows that voice anywhere so he doesn’t move. He sees Otabek from the corner of his eye standing beside him, leaning against the balcony. (He can’t help but think of the day they first became friends, and he gets even more nervous. He doesn’t want to do this.) “Why are you here? The reception’s still going.”

He nods in acknowledgement of his presence, and huffs. “I saw Katsudon getting his second drink and decided I didn’t want to get dragged into another dance-off. He and Chris can go fall off of the fucking stripper pole, for all I care.”

Otabek lets out a small chuckle, and he hates that something as small as that makes him weak. “Viktor stopped him at his third. He’s a bit woozy, but he hasn’t taken anything off yet. You can come back if you want.”

“Well, I don’t want. It’s noisy and chaotic there and I just wanna think.”

He sees Otabek raise an eyebrow at him, and he doesn’t need to hear him say that he’s asking what’s wrong. He lets out a frustrated sigh and slumps his upper body on the balcony. 

He has to do it now. It feels like it’s going to kill him, but he wants to know. 

“... I got the last letters of the first name of my soulmark, y’know. Just halfway there.”

There’s a sudden shift in Otabek’s aura, and he turns his head to look at him. An untrained eye wouldn’t notice anything, but he sees the tense jaw, the crease on his forehead, the way he looks as if he’s glaring at whatever’s below them. “Beka? What’s-”

“It’s nothing,” he says, and while his voice remains calm, the tenseness in his features doesn’t disappear. “My foot still hurts a bit from when I sprained it during practice a few weeks ago. That’s all. So, your soulmark. I’m happy for you. Is it someone you know?”

He feels like he just got punched in the gut. If he asked that, that means they’re not soulmates, right? He should have his soulmark complete by now. 

If he makes any indication of how hurt he feels, Otabek doesn’t address it. Yuri taps his fingers on the balcony railing as he tries to think of something to say.

“I... thought I knew. But I think I don’t now. I don’t know.” His plan backfired, so there’s no point in telling him now. But he does want to know something. “What about you? You should have all your letters on your mark, right?”

Otabek’s gaze at the view hardens. “Why is that relevant?”

“Duh, of course it’s relevant. You, of all, people, deserve to be happy with someone.” Fuck. That sounded too sentimental. _Fuck._ “Come on, Beka. What does it say?”

Otabek lets out a tired sigh. “I... haven’t looked at it.”

Wait. “What?”

“I haven’t looked at it,” he repeats, turning his gaze to Yuri. “Not since I got my first letter. Soulmates weren’t my priority at the time, and I didn’t want to waste any time worrying about who it might be. So I didn’t look.”

He casts his best glare at him, or at least the best glare he can give the one he really likes (loves?) without feeling guilty. “Well, it has to be complete by now. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. Don’t you wanna look at it at the name of the hag you forgot about?”

“Not really.”

 _“Beka.”_ He feels like he’s going to die if he doesn’t find out who Otabek’s soulmate is.

He sighs in exasperation. “Alright, fine. You can look, but I won’t.” He sheds his suit jacket and drapes it on the balcony railing and rolls up his right sleeve. Immediately he looks away from it, but he extends his arm to Yuri.

Right on his bicep, in messy, cursive handwriting, is Юрий Плисецкий. He feels his heart stop.

_Yuri Plisetsky._

Oh, fuck.

“Otabek -”

“Don’t tell me,” he interrupts, pushing is sleeve back into place. “I don’t want to know. I’ve made them wait long enough, and they probably found someone else by now. Besides, I still have my skating to focus on.”

He’s not going to budge, so as always he decides to let his mouth lead the way instead of his mind. “D’you wanna see mine?”

Otabek looks pained again, and he’s starting to pick up the pieces as to why. “... If you insist.”

He gives him the smallest of smiles before pulling up both his jacket and shirt sleeves of his left arm. Otabek glances at the mark and he almost laughs at the thoroughly startled look he has on his face. 

“What does it say?” he asks him, and he feels his heart skip too many beats when he lifts his eyes from the mark and it goes to his own. 

He replies with his own name so quietly that he barely heard it, but it was enough. “Any guesses as to what your soulmark says?”

Finally he smiles back at him, all the previous tension from his face gone. “Yuri Plisetsky. Isn’t it?”

“You finally caught on, old man,” he laughs as he pushes his sleeves back down, but before he can drop his arm Otabek takes hold of it and interlaces their fingers. His own smugness is thrown out the window in favor of shyness and embarrassment.

“I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” Otabek explains, the soft smile still on his face. “When I woke up on my eighteenth and saw the first letter, I immediately thought of you.”

“We haven’t even met yet then!”

“Exactly. But I’ve admired you for a long time. You know that.” He stares at their entwined hands, fondness clear on his features. “I didn’t know in what way at the time, but I did still think of you and... I didn’t want to think that you’re my soulmate then end up disappointed if it turns out you’re not. So I stopped looking.”

Well, that sounded awfully familiar. “So you never looked at it again after that.”

“Yes.” he turns to Yuri, and the rising warmth in his cheeks is becoming unbearable. “Now I wish that I did look at it, but it all worked out in the end, so I don’t really mind.”

“Funny,” Yuri says before closing the distance between them. “I don’t mind either.”

He catches Otabek’s smile widening before they kiss, and he’s pretty sure now that he’s in love.

Viktor and Yuuri are going to have a field day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha murder me i love them


End file.
